Halifax considers affordable spay-neuter program

18-month-old Jacob paws at his reflection in the camera lens Monday at the SPCA in Dartmouth. (CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)

Cats have returned to the political spotlight at Halifax city hall.

Tuxedo Stan, the furry would-be mayor, ran a cheeky campaign this fall to draw attention to the thousands of feral and stray cats in the municipality.

About a dozen sitting politicians signed Stan’s pledge in support of an affordable spay program — and it seems they may make good on that promise.

Coun. Steve Adams recently asked the municipality to consider a pilot project that would cover some of the cost of spaying and neutering pets for those who cannot afford it. Staff will come back with their study in the new year.

Hugh and Kathy Chisholm, the humans behind the Tuxedo Party, are hopeful the report will support a business case for a program.

Hugh Chisholm said it’s likely cheaper to help spay pets and stray cats than it is to build a shelter to care for the abandoned animals.

“No matter how big a shelter, or how many shelters, you build, you’ll fill them and you’ll still have a problem,” the retired veterinarian said. “If you get to the source … you’re more likely to have success in the long run, I think.”

While cats weren’t singled out in the proposal, Chisholm and animal rescue groups say this type of program could prevent the spread of feral colonies.

The exact number of stay and feral cats is unknown, but city staff have acknowledged the problem is widespread, with anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 stray and feral cats roaming the municipality, according to a 2009 report.

The “overpopulation crisis” stretches countrywide, the executive director of the provincial SPCA says.

A national study on the problem of stray and feral animals should be released in the new year, Kristin Williams said, but preliminary data suggests that more than 40 per cent of the animals coming through the shelters and clinics are kittens.

The Dartmouth-based headquarters for the SPCA will expand this spring to include a vet clinic, both for its own animals and for low-income pet owners.

Williams lauded the city’s first step toward an affordable program for spaying and said it could lead to a partnership between the society’s clinic and the city.

“The SPCA would be the epicentre of a resource for other animal rescue organizations and low-income families,” she said. “And I think in relation to the motion by council, clearly we’re an organization that’s well situated to assist in this overpopulation crisis.”

In a perfect world, the funding for the program could be divided between animal protection activists and pet owners, Linda Felix, the founder of Spay Day HRM says.

Now in its second year, the not-for-profit society has helped get more than 250 cats fixed. Most of those belong to students or struggling families.

Poor neighbourhoods are often hot spots for strays, Felix says, and families may try to take in an animal without understanding the price tag attached to their compassion.

“They let it in and then they quickly find themselves in a problem,” she said.

It can cost anywhere from $250 to more than $400 to have an animal spayed or neutered, although those costs are waived when an animal is adopted from the SPCA. Felix said she would hope owners who cannot pay for the surgery themselves would cover about $80, “or something someone can save up for,” and the municipality would pay the rest.

Discounts should also be given to animal groups trying to spay cats in feral colonies to prevent more kittens during the two to three breeding seasons each year, she said. That’s what the Chisholms would also like to see happen.

Felix hopes the call for a report could signal a shift about how cats are treated under municipal legislation. She wants cat owners to have to license their pets.

It’s an issue that’s stymied council for years. It flip-flopped on the infamous cat bylaw, and eventually exempted the animals from registration.

It’s not a debate Adams wants to reopen.

Instead, he wants staff to focus on making it cheaper for people to spay their animals and what criteria they would have to meet. He’d like council to consider, as well, creating an arms-length committee to managing the pilot project — with municipal funding. That’s something the report will also take into consideration.

“When you start dealing with the licensing of cats, the entire discussion goes sideways,” the Spryfield-Sambro Loop-Prospect Road councillor said. “The issue at hand is feral cats and cats that need to be spayed or neutered.”